diff --git a/src/app/FakeLib/MSBuildHelper.fs b/src/app/FakeLib/MSBuildHelper.fs
index ea441d4be3f..48bd9884253 100644
--- a/src/app/FakeLib/MSBuildHelper.fs
+++ b/src/app/FakeLib/MSBuildHelper.fs
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ let rec getProjectReferences (projectFileName : string) =
     else // exclude .sln-files since the are not XML
          
     let doc = loadProject projectFileName
-    let references = getReferenceElements "ProjectReference" projectFileName doc |> Seq.map snd
+    let references = getReferenceElements "ProjectReference" projectFileName doc |> Seq.map snd |> Seq.filter File.Exists
     references
       |> Seq.map getProjectReferences
       |> Seq.concat